


Room With a View

by A Magiluna Stormwriter (ariestess)



Series: Get What You Need [2]
Category: West Wing
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-18
Updated: 2006-06-18
Packaged: 2017-11-06 08:04:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/416599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariestess/pseuds/A%20Magiluna%20Stormwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ainsley's thoughts wander while fixing up her new condo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Room With a View

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ctorres](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ctorres/gifts).



> Date: 17-18 June 2006  
> Word Count: 936  
> Short Summary: Ainsley's thoughts wander while fixing up her new condo.  
> Warning: Only if the idea of two women in love is a problem…  
> Spoilers (if any): Post-series finale.
> 
> Disclaimer: “The West Wing”, the characters and situations depicted are the property of Warner Bros. Television, John Wells Productions, NBC, etc. They are borrowed without permission, but without the intent of infringement. This site is in no way affiliated with "The West Wing", NBC, or any representatives of Allison Janney or Emily Procter. This site contains stories between two mature, consenting adult females.
> 
> Ficathon Notes: This was written for the [](http://two-of-us-fic.livejournal.com/profile)[**two_of_us_fic**](http://two-of-us-fic.livejournal.com/) challenge, which was created in part to celebrate Paul McCartney's birthday. The basis of the challenge was receiving a couple lines of lyrics from the Beatles and writing a 500 word minimum story based on those lyrics' inspiration.
> 
> The lyrics I received were:
> 
> "I'm painting the room in a colorful way  
> And when my mind is wandering  
> There I will go."  
> \-- "Fixing A Hole", Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
> 
> Author’s Notes: The lyrics gave me ideas for a lot of pairing options. But I had this niggling "request" in the back of my mind to do more with CJ and Ainsley. Maybe it was the fact that I just really like the whole CJ/Ainsley pairing, thanks so much to [](http://ctorres.livejournal.com/profile)[**ctorres**](http://ctorres.livejournal.com/) for requesting it back in the femslash06 ficathon. Maybe it was just an excuse to revisit CJ period. Don't know, don't care. This is what I got.
> 
> Dedication: [](http://ctorres.livejournal.com/profile)[**ctorres**](http://ctorres.livejournal.com/) , because I really do like this pairing a lot.
> 
> Beta: [](http://shatterpath.livejournal.com/profile)[**shatterpath**](http://shatterpath.livejournal.com/), as usual.

  


It had been years since I'd last moved into a place of my own. Not a rental; I knew how to deal with those in my sleep. No, this was the kind of situation where I was the sole owner of this quaint little condo in Huntington Beach. It was just the right size for what I needed; after all, I wasn't planning to be there very much, considering the demands of my job.

Shaking my head to clear away the needless minutiae of work, I added more paint to the roller and made short work of covering the bathroom wall. The pale sea foam color both brightened and soothed the tone of the room. When I'd seen the condo, and the lovely ocean view it offered, I couldn't help but plan a similarly colored palette to cover the plain white walls.

I still had two weeks left on my apartment, so I was taking the time to paint each room and start moving over the less necessary things. It really was making me feel far more comfortable about this move. Even when I'd been in DC all those years ago, I'd rented and never thought to settle down long enough to take root.

Funny how it took the deaths of two men I highly revered to make me change my mind. It was hard enough dealing with Leo's death. It wasn't even two years later and Jed Bartlett had joined Leo in the afterlife. His wake had brought up old feelings I'd thought were buried and dead. Funny how facing mortality can get you to change your mind about potentially missed opportunities.

Highest among those revisited opportunities was one Claudia Jean Cregg.

The look on her face when I knew she'd seen me for the first time was…composure-shaking and emboldening by equal strides. I could see by the look in her eyes that she'd wanted what I wanted. But seeing her, seeing all of them really, had just hit too close to home in the wake of the deaths of both Leo and Jed. She was disappointed in my request to mourn first. Then again, I couldn't deny my own disappointment, but I knew it was necessary to deal with putting those particular ghosts to rest before I could even consider making such a major change in my life as getting involved with one of the most recognized women in the country.

But it had been worth it in the long run. CJ even said so.

The buzzing of the intercom startled me and I set down the roller before heading out into the main room to answer it. No one had said anything about coming to visit me. Hell, no one knew I was even at the condo for the day.

"Yes?" I asked curiously.

"Hey, it's CJ," came the familiar voice. "Can I come up?"

The smile spread across my face that she was unexpectedly here. Without another word, I pressed the button to release the door downstairs. I waited anxiously by the door, barely refraining from going to meet her at the elevator. There were days I felt like a lovesick teenager around her. Obviously, this was going to be one of them.

I blamed it on the paint fumes.

It didn't take nearly as long for CJ to finally be knocking on my door as I felt it did. Then again, we hadn't done much more than share phone calls the past several days. Our jobs had taken precedence over anything else; neither of us could admit the siren's lure of the job, yet we both succumbed to it far too often for our own good.

She'd barely set knuckles to the wooden door when I had it flung open. Her pleased, startled look made me grin even more. "Well, somebody's in a good mood," CJ replied with her own grin. "And covered in paint. I didn't even know you were going to be here today. I'd have come over sooner and helped out."

"You dress too nicely to get paint splattered all over you," I replied with a shrug and tugged her into the room, closing the door behind me. "I just wanted to get the main bathroom painted today," I said and leaned up to press a light kiss to her cheek. "Besides, I got the new showerhead installed in the master bathroom." I started back toward the main bathroom to finish up my painting, and at the last minute I looked at her over my shoulder to add, "Oh, and the bed was delivered this morning."

Stepping into the bathroom, I chuckled at her initial lack of response, and resumed my painting. I wanted to get the damned bathroom done so I could put up the border the next day. I returned to my painting and waited for CJ's reaction. After a moment or so, she stepped in and stood behind me, glancing around the room.

"You know, there's a lot of green, and blue, and sandy gold colors in this place, Ainsley," she finally said. "I never took you for being the ocean cliché kind of girl."

"Who said the color scheme had anything to do with the ocean?" I quipped, and set the roller down again to face her. "It just so happens that I chose those colors because they're flecked in your eyes."

Those beautiful eyes blinked back at me, a few tears making them shinier. "Thank you," CJ murmured and pulled me close with a kiss that pretty much told me I was done painting for the day.

Not that I minded, of course.


End file.
